Between all the responsibilities and commitments Amber has with her super busy family and household that now includes a menagerie of baby labs, kitties and hermit crabs - she and I still manage to carve out a few hours of mother/daughter time.
The other morning we were texting back and forth and zeroed in a all afternoon shopping day later this month AND a lunch date and trip to Central Market for Friday!
It was their Hatch Chili Festival week and I really wanted to go.
Every year I buy lots of things 'Hatch Chili' and most of the time they are too spicy but I still do it!
This year I bought mild fresh hatch chilies and two different jars of Queso - one white and one yellow.
Plus the Hatch Chili Lime Cookies!
I seriously love these!
We shopped for a few things and then had a soup and sandwich lunch from the deli.
Delicious! AND the one on one time - PRICELESS!
Mike's work schedule on Friday allowed for him to do the school pick up so we squeezed in a few extra bonus minutes!
Logan was waiting for me to take her home with me and, since she IS my Mini Me, I picked up something special for our dinner that night.
She had told me about seeing special bags in a section of Target marked 'Dinner For Two.'
She was intrigued with this idea and I knew Central Market carried something similar.
I bought a Dinner for Two for one of our wedding anniversaries and knew they are good.
This one proved to be excellent!
Back to the Bells for a little Puppy Loving!
Amber and her girl puppy Kona!
Granddad was waiting outside on the driveway just watching for us to get home!
We unloaded my stuff from Central Market and then headed to Aldi, Kroger and Family Dollar to pick up the other things on our list.
Dinner was so good! Normally Logan has pizza on Friday nights so we did cook one and that was Louis Dean's main meal while ours was the Dinner for Two deal. Still......she and I each had one small piece of pizza just because it was Friday.
We watched the very same movie the Bells were watching and at pretty much the very same time.
I was reading back in my written diaries from when Amber was a very little girl.
Our Friday night movies with Cokes and Popcorn started when she was 18 months old - and have continued all of her 37 years. I just love that. You never know how long the traditions you start in childhood will last.
Logan asked for theater popcorn with BUTTER!!!
And that's exactly what we had......it was decadent and so so GOOD!
All three of us were in bed by 10:30!
Logan was up a good two hours before me!
I made a rule when the quads were very young that you do NOT wake MeeMaw up in the mornings!
Now that they are older, I need to adjust that rule to - if you are awake for an hour and I am still asleep - you may come in and touch my shoulder to see if I wake up.
I cannot tell you how it made my heart LEAP to see Logan so happy to see me get up!
She will never have to wait that long again and I have a sneaking suspicion that pretty soon I will be the one waiting for HER to wake up!
We had our special coffee together in special cups that Summer bought for me when she was a little girl from the Sample Shop - Vermont pottery cups and saucers.
We even had frothed milk from the frother Jesse gave me for Christmas a few years ago - and that was sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.
We three sat together in the living room with our coffees and did our Bible and devotional readings and then Logan read to us from her book 'Brian's Winter' by Gary Paulsen.
I just so happened to have read that book - along with every single other book Gary Paulsen has written - so it was wonderful to me to see how much Logan was enjoying it!
After our reading, we sat together in the living room admiring all the dolls in the two big cases.
I took this one down of Lucy in the candy factory and I pulled up a little 2-3 minute clip from that episode on YouTube.
One thing led to another and we all watched a couple of old I Love Lucy shows!
Next up was cutting my daily sunflower bouquet and then Logan had a photo shoot among them using her instamatic camera.
We baked a White Dr Pepper Sheet Cake for Pam's birthday dinner Saturday night.
While I worked on the dinner, Logan worked on her very first oil painting.
She is a good helper in the kitchen and got the salad part of Taco salad ready.
Pepper Poppers! Always good!
The long ones are mild hatch chilies with roasted garlic.
YUM!
Happy Birthday to PAM!!!
We had to sandwich this celebration in between her travel adventures!
Last week was Oregon - this week will be Florida!
We watched church online this morning and this afternoon it came a torrential rainfall!!!
I stood on the front porch and admired the scent, sound, and sight of RAIN!!!
I could feel all of nature relax a little as the water soaked into the ground, grass and flower beds.
More is in the forecast over the next few days and it will be so welcome!
It's late Sunday afternoon as I write....
and we are about to head over to the Bells for a Sunday night family dinner.
Amber's going to cook up the rest of the red snapper they caught down in Gulf Shores and I'm taking some pepper poppers and Louis Dean will get to meet the new grand dogs for the first time!
It's going to be a fun evening and I will journal all about it tomorrow!
Wonderful cooler temperatures with that rain. I know how much you welcome both.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun for you to have Logan and for Logan to have special time with you.
Amber and Mike are such a cute couple. Have a wonderful evening with them and
all the family, including the new puppies.
Such a delightful family you have and Logan is a real prize.
ReplyDeleteYummy food and great company...what could be better?
Nothing!
Sue
I love how you incorporate loved ones into your life!
ReplyDeleteYou are a blessing to all you love and are blessed to be with them often. I so enjoy your photos. keep them coming!
What wonderful memories of special times you are making with Logan that will last a lifetime. You had something fun every minute of her visit!
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful week end and friday you have had. so glad you got your amber time and your mini me time. also happy for your rain and that it was not a flash flood that i saw on TV in dallas area
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun weekend. Marvin likes Hatch chili products but he has had to order online in the past. I know you enjoyed having Logan for the weekend. It is good to spend one on one time with the grands. AS for I LOVE LUCY....that has been one of my favorite shows since I was a little girl. I can remember sitting with my banana sandwich on a tray and watching Lucy reruns with my mother before I started school. One year Marvin surprised me with the complete set of DVDS, including the Christmas program and the one hour specials. Have a great week Linda.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful weekend! You are truly blessed to have family around and able to do so many fun things together! Oh, that I Love Lucy doll and show...what a thrill! I always watched I Love Lucy when I was little. I thought she was my mother because she had red hair and so did I and she did such crazy things. My mother had brown hair and also did fun and crazy things sometimes, so somehow in my little brain I intertwined the two! I need to watch some old episodes again sometime. I don't know much about "hatch chilies". We aren't really into eating hot peppers, etc., so I probably couldn't eat them, but you make it all look so good and fun. And how wonderful to have a granddaughter spend the weekend with you and enjoy doing fun things together. What a blessing for both of you. This was just so good from start to finish. Thank you for sharing it all with us.
ReplyDeleteI've never had Hatch chili, but I do love chili. However mine is on the mild side. Your daughter and granddaughter are beautiful. How nice you get to have that time together. We had a lot of rain here yesterday too and many of the local streets were flooded. We have not been as hot as you, but we did need the rain. Hope you have a wonderful week ahead !
ReplyDeleteLinda, Your weekend seemed busy and full of great fun memories. That girl is growing. All the Bell children are adorable. Your mention of Gulf Shores took me back...way back. I went deep sea fishing there and caught 2 of the biggest fish I have ever caught, 35 pound Amber Jacks. So fun too. Blessings to all of you. Hope you get rain but not too much. Love, xoxo, Susie
ReplyDeleteSorry Linda, I misspelled amberjacks as two words. LOL, Susie
ReplyDeleteSweet time with Logan, and so many good things!
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you had such a awesome weekend!
Lovely to have some one on one time. Your dinner for two sounds wonderful - and it rained! Cheers
ReplyDeleteThe pepper poppers you often make and show look good, but are something I've never tried, Linda. How wonderful for the one-on-one time with Amber and Logan as well. It's always lovely to read and see your family times.
ReplyDelete